Cipra

“This world will become the new world…..the nation that we originally called China…..our new home,” Zhengsheng, 1st Elected President of Cipra. Cipra’s legacy is one of two major desert worlds that belong to the UWA, including Aphadus. However, for a planet that is not tidally locked, Cipra is a true desert world. The only thing saving it from having little life on it is the incredible geographical landscape. The end result was that it would become a significant city for individuals that wanted to live in a new world. History Cipra is located in the star system HD 4308. It had been in the sights of UWA telescopes for well over a decade. However, like many of the habitable worlds, the ability to find a suitable location to live in was daunting. During the early 24th century, the era of colonization would fall to a massive lull during the time period. It was easily argued that humanity had found enough worlds to live on and had little desire to find new worlds to call home. However, it was later deemed by those of mostly former Chinese descent that a new world was needed. Even with this situation, there was little desire to leave popular worlds, such as Cebravis. Many found it to be a relaxing location and one to raise and have a family. For most of the European and North American populations, the planet was widely accepted. This also included those that also identified themselves as former Chinese. However, Cebravis’s rules were strict in some departments, and it was also deemed that the planet couldn’t be the mainstay world of the UWA forever. Regardless, there were many reasons why other worlds weren’t colonized for thirty years since the founding of Palora. The primary reason is reflected in human environmental impacts. There was the threat that wildlife, including bacteria and viruses, could be easily transmitted back and forth. This could easily lead to the spread of contagious and deadly diseases that could wipe out or devastate human populations or native wildlife. At the same time, burnout from finding new worlds to live on was quite prevalent. There was little desire for the UWA to settle on new planets since it cost a significant amount of money to do so. A partial argument was made that eventually, despite these trends, a world would be colonized. Cipra was chosen as a new colony world because the demand had finally increased. The human population was expanding on Cebravis. It was further argued that any form of “blockage” in finding new worlds could lead to further environmental impacts on Cebravis. At the time of 2330, the desert world was heavily analyzed. It was located right near the edge of the hotter side of the star's habitable zone. It would have another 4 million years of expected life before the sun would render all life from existence. At the same time, Cipra was looked at as a viable spot because most life had already been rendered extinct. The planet had some exciting features that ultimately won out as a perfect location to settle on. Current geologists have been trying to figure out the cause of this, but it has been revealed that plate tectonics on the planet has created an extensive series of plateau valleys. Enormous canyon walls would span one side of the world while the other side is almost barren and flat. At the same time, practically all flora and fauna had been wiped clean by the heavy heat and fierce winds. This resulted in turning the planet into a widespread desert. Up to 85% of the planet is desert, with the rest being of rocky terrain. A small amount of water on the poles is further confounded by the heavy dust storms. This results in a muddied north pole and a small lake on the southern mountaintop pole. However, there is a small location where life does flourish. What is known as “Cipra’s Eye” is that of an alcove location in the valley between two primary canyon walls. The fact remains that Cipra’s geo structure protects the area from the fierce sandstorms that pummel the entire planet. Only two major transit points lead into this location on foot. The temperatures at Cipra’s Eye are warm but not overtly hot. The lakes are clean and pure, where life readily flourishes. After some debate, UWA citizens decided to call Cipra a suitable location to settle on. A single wide colony was established in 2334 with the expandable city of New Hong Kong. Within ten years, the numbers of the population exploded as people from all worlds settled on it. Many referred to Cipra as the “Desert Paradise,” as the location of green and lush forests masked the fact that the entire world was nothing but a barren wasteland. Cipra is a world of irony for the next fifteen years. While a significant Neo Communist movement helped fund the project to create the colony, a Democratic government was established on the planet instead. Any attempts at starting it died out within 2340 when the Neo Communist Party withdrew and returned back to Mars to push their political agenda. At the same time, sports looked at Cipra as a suitable location for racing. The changing desert sands made a perfect location for helping attract tourism. The great Lantau Canyon Tunnel was created in 2343. This would allow vehicles to traverse and appear on the other side of the Lantau Canyon, just in case there was a need to conduct a widespread evacuation. The tunnel also connected to the Cipran desert races on the other side. For a world that is seemingly too hot to live in, many have easily called the world their new home. By the end of 2348, Cipra was in the process of creating a second city on the other side of the planet. What was going to be called “Huǒshān kǒu Korea” was located in the massive asteroid crater that originated over a hundred million years ago. The “Korean Crater” was to serve as a mining settlement to harvest essential mineral resources and to serve as an expansion location possibly. The immense crater provides partial protection from the heat and sandstorms. At the same time, it connects to the water beneath the ground with moisture vaporators that could further harvest additional water. The settlement only consisted of a few hundred personnel as construction was in progress. *Spoilers if you haven’t read Gabatrix: Minerva* Cipra would be one of two worlds that would suffer defeat against the Itreans. When the alien race was discovered in the famed JJ-78 incident, the UWA was sent into a panic. Efforts were made to strengthen defenses and be ready for an out war with a sentient alien race. Cipra was no different, but many at the time claimed that the planet was just as well set or well unequipped to handle what the Itreans would throw onto it. Proponents claimed that Cipra was well defensible. Its location provided proper protection, and numerous ground weapons were rapidly completed to handle large-scale assaults. However, this hope became startled when Eutera was taken. Even so, many claimed that Cipra was a much more easily defended location. Eutera had little to nothing to protect itself. The UHN vowed to pour all its defenses into it with ground batteries to provide further protection. When the “Red Itrean Vessels” started to arrive in early 2349, the defenses proved to be more than adequate. Itrean invading vessels could be easily wiped out, and the population's confidence seemed to be assured that it could handle further incursions. However, little to the Cipran’s or UHN’s knowledge was that Cipra was only encountering scout vessels. The many “incursions” were various attempts made by the Itreans to test out and evaluate the Cipran defenses. While a few in the UHN command believed that there was a genuine threat, there was so little knowledge on Itrean vessels that it wasn’t enough to point out the obvious. A couple of battles would occur during the “1st Cipran Siege,” and most of these were short. However, it was later confirmed that the Itreans were slowly advancing on the planet. In the later months of the Cipran’s life, there were efforts by some to leave the planet. The UHN continued to encounter small waves of Itrean vessels, and their resources were enormous. However, these small waves of alien warships were starting to inflict heavy casualties. UHN battleships would begin to run out of missiles or take so much damage that they would have to withdraw to the shipyards to conduct repairs. Eventually, the shipyards would be overwhelmed with queues to rearm and repair vessels, and many of the damaged battleships were simply tossed back to Cipra to continue the fight. At the same time, many were confused about the tactics made by the Itreans. If they had enormous resources, why hadn’t they launched a full-scale assault? It has been argued that the Itreans were attempting to look at humanity in a bigger picture. A few in the UHN command mentioned that the Itreans were conducting a “Cautious Siege.” They had been launching small waves because if they had launched an all-out assault, it was possible that the UHN would have pulled out far more extensive resources to wipe out the Itrean invasion in turn. The Itreans must have concluded that humanity had no viable means to defeat them in the following months. Unfortunately, it was too late in the last two weeks of the Siege of Cipra. The Itreans stepped up their attacks and pressed their fleets against the UHN defenses. By now, the “easy victories” that the UHN had been enjoying were almost nonexistent. UHN losses were hitting an excessive amount. The UHN made valiant attempts to help evacuate the Cipran population. Unfortunately, of the hundreds of evacuating vessels that made a run for the gate ring of Fort Lee, only a few would make it. It was later commented that the Itreans purposely avoided attacking the gate array because of “target practice.” At the same time, all efforts to get the Ciprans off the world would fail. It was safely concluded that the population was trapped even if numerous reports were made of fleeing ships on the surface. Eventually, on the final day of Cipra, the UHN concluded that the Itrean fleet was unstoppable. Any further attempts at fighting back were not working and only resulted in further UHN losses. With the loss of almost 20% of the UHN overall fleet, an all-out retreat was called out. Using Fort Lee, the remaining vessels would leave and set the gate array on Fort Lee on self-destruct. Cipra was on its own as many UWA citizens were fully aware of the Itreans power and strength. The loss of Cipra is considered the most devastating defeat in UHN history and one that would demoralize the overall morale in all UWA worlds. UHN command would announce that no further efforts would be made to reinforce outer colony worlds in hopes of defending the most important planets in UWA control. It was easily assumed that Itrean assault ships had conquered and taken the remaining Cipran survivors as prisoners. *Spoilers if you haven’t read Gabatrix: The First Peace* While the UWA/T’rintar clan alliance was noteworthy, not much could be done for Cipra. The T’rintar clan reported that any humans captured by the Aksren clan on Cipra were most likely dead. However, various reports also stated that the Aksren clan had been experimenting on human captured civilians. Before the alliance was made, the Itrean clan created the “Chae’ Human’ *Click* Rorta” Virus or “Human-1” disease. This powerful constructed disease can spread quickly, is heavily contagious, airborne, and can purposely wipe out human lives. The Aksren used the human population of Cipra to craft this disease, another reason why they went to conquer the planet. However, as far as late December of 2349, talks began to circulate that a possible joint offense could be mounted on Cipra. As the T’rintar were rapidly coming up with immune boosters and ways to counter the potential use of the virus, the UHN knew that it might still be possible to retake Cipra. However, little has been mentioned as the planning has been hushed up for secrecy reasons. *Spoilers if you haven’t read Gabatrix: The Cipra Campaign* It was finally revealed in October of 2350 that the UHN and T’rintar clan allied forces would launch an all-out assault on Cipra. Both parties had their different reasons to do so. The UWA and UHN felt that committing to such an action would boost morale. Retaking Cipra would send a message to the Aksren clan that atrocities wouldn’t go unanswered. Aksren clan defenses were supposedly light as they were attempting to settle on the world. At the same time, with such weak protection, the Aksren clan forces could be easily routed and pushed off-world. The entire siege operation would be known as “Operation Desert Shrike.” The T’rintar clan’s reasons weren’t as heavily motivated by alliance reasons as most would think. True that some of the reasons were “To help serve the interests of UWA relations,” the primary reason was that the T’rintar clan wanted to inflict damage on their enemy. Even if they had been a clan that focused on defensive warfare, the concept of inflicting damage on a weak enemy base was still seen as an opportunistic and viable goal. Therefore, the primary purpose of the T’rintar clan was to commit to an entire space battle siege over Cipra to weaken and preoccupy Aksren naval forces. It would be the goal of the UHN to commit to an entire ground force campaign in retaking the planet. Operation Desert Shrike looked good on paper. The UHN marine corps sent almost a majority of their marine corps and most of their finest assault vessels to invade Cipra during its heavy sandstorm. The enormous annual dust storm properties made ground sensor scans almost impossible to detect. Cipra’s landscape was prone to such weather patterns, and it was up to the goal of the UHN to use this to their advantage. Ground forces could then engage Aksren ground forces on almost equal ground. It was up to the marines to retake New Hong Kong. It was believed that if they couldn’t retake the capital, then the Aksren forces would commit ever greater reinforcements in preventing the allied forces from retaking the planet. However, the operation was faced with much opposition. Aksren defenses proved to be greater than expected. At the same time, Aksren leadership predicted that a ground assault would eventually occur. The Empress of Itsis had sent her finest guard vessels to ambush the UHN assault fleet as they closed in on the planet. This resulted in an almost complete decimation of the marine corps’ task force. The entire operation was put into jeopardy, and it would lead to the most significant loss of life of UHN personnel that hadn’t been seen since the loss of Cipra. The campaign didn’t end, however. Amazingly, three marine vessels had landed on the surface and deployed their soldiers and equipment. The sandstorm still managed to provide protection from the assault. At the same time, ground troops discovered that a small number of refugees had survived the evacuation of Cipra. It was later learned that these people went through extreme hardship. The few of the hundreds of thousands that evacuated New Hong Kong hid in the canyon mountains during the course of a year. This also included some military vehicles of Cipra’s former defense forces. These military forces had disobeyed orders to resist the Aksren invasion force, knowing it was a lost cause. The good news was that these military vehicles would join up in the marine corps assault on New Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Operation Desert Shrike had become an all-out battle in space. Thankfully, an offensive move by the allied forces would punch through the Aksren defense fleet. A few vessels would provide support fire onto Aksren ground forces while the marine force would engage and wipe out Aksren resistance on New Hong Kong. Eventually, the Aksren ground forces were defeated, and the Aksren fleet withdrew from Cipra. The victory of Cipra is one that is only partially celebrated in the UWA. While some former refuges have returned to the colony capital, it has required the T’rintar clan's help to get the world rebuilt and repair the damage that the Aksren had inflicted. In addition, aksren prisoners of war would be handed over to the T’rintar clan for processing, while a few were spared from severe punishment. At the same time, it was revealed that Cipra had mass graveyards of the former population that the Aksren clan had slaughtered. These graveyards account for millions that had been trapped on Cipra when the planet was first trying to be evacuated. At the moment, the UWA is considering the future for Cipra. With T’rintar clan help, it is believed that the colony world will be “shared” with the T’rintar clan to ensure its continued survival in the future. Efforts are also underway to find the bodies of those that had been lost in Cipra’s vast desert, although there is little hope in it. To the UHN, Cipra is a minor victory in the long-going war with the other Itrean clans. Despite the horrific losses, it is believed that the Aksren clan will never return to Cipra.